OTTAWA, September 29, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — Andrew Scheer says that if he is elected as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, he will focus on uniting the party and won’t reopen a debate on abortion or same-sex “marriage.”
At the same time, he won’t prevent MPs from exercising “their inherent right as members of Parliament” to make statements in the House on any issue they believe in, or on behalf of their constituents, citing his own “wise” ruling on this as former Speaker of the House.
The 37-year-old MP for Regina-Qu’appelle made his remarks during a press conference Wednesday to announce his official entry into the Conservative Party’s leadership race. Scheer was joined by his wife, Jill, and 10 of the 20 Conservative MPs and senators backing his campaign.
Scheer confirmed that he has registered (and has paid $25,000 of the $50,000 fee) thus joining MPs Maxime Bernier, Michael Chong, Tony Clement, Kellie Leitch, and Deepak Obhrai in that select group. MP Brad Trost and former MP Pierre Lemieux have also declared as candidates but have not yet registered.
Scheer emphasized his ability to unite the Tories, but reporters pressed him on his social conservative views, and whether or not he would follow the lead of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper in not reopening debate on the controversial issues of abortion and same-sex “marriage.”
“It’s not up to me to reopen the debate on these issues,” responded Scheer, adding later: “It’s not just the former leader, it’s the party, the caucus, that decided it was not a good idea to reopen those issues.”
Campaign Life Coalition Vice President Jeff Gunnarson said he was “shocked and disappointed” at Scheer’s statement, adding that CLC would be seeking clarification from Scheer on his position.
Campaign Life Coalition has “green-lighted” Scheer, a Catholic father of five who was first elected to Parliament in 2004, as a supportable candidate based on his pro-life and pro-family voting record. CLC has so far endorsed Trost and Lemieux in their bids for the leadership.
A number of the 20 caucus members backing Scheer have also been green-lighted by CLC as pro-life, including MPs Bob Zimmer, Ted Falk, Garnett Genuis, Arnold Viersen, Tom Lukiwski, Kelly Block, Mark Strahl, Kevin Sorenson, and Gerry Ritz.
Moreover, 17 of the 20 caucus backers are from western Canada, leading to questions of Scheer’s appeal in Quebec and Ontario. The fluently bilingual Scheer said many of the concerns of Quebecers — a centralized government, declining middle class — are similar to those of western Canada.
Scheer, whose campaign slogan is “Real Conservative. Real Leader,” said Conservatives “do not win when we change our policy,” and that “Conservatives have to be just more than Liberals who are good at math.”
He said his campaign would focus on “free markets, low taxes, and strong families,” and listed these, as well as balanced budgets, efficient government, and a tough-on-crime stance as among authentic Conservative principles.
Known for his affability, Scheer asserted that he was the “best candidate to unite this party” and to keep it “focused on the task on hand: defeating the Liberals in 2019.”
He added: “Conservatives don’t always win when we are united, but we always lose when we are divided.”
Speaker of the House from 2011 to 2015, Scheer ruled in April 2013 that an MP had a right to seek the floor by “catching the Speaker’s eye” rather than being dependent on the party-provided list of speakers.
Pro-life leaders and MPs hailed the ruling as a way to loosen the stranglehold of party leaders who opposed discussing abortion and other controversial moral issues in Parliament.
In 2005, Scheer spoke out and voted against Bill C-38, which redefined marriage to include same-sex couples, saying it was “abhorrent to me, to other Catholics and to every member of every faith community.”
In 2008, he also spoke out against awarding arch-abortionist Henry Morgentaler the Order of Canada, saying he was “greatly disappointed that Canada's highest civilian honour has been politicized and debased by this appointment.”
Meanwhile, MPs Lisa Raitt, Chris Alexander, Erin O’Toole, and Steven Blaney are all reportedly considering joining the Conservative leadership race.
Pro-life and pro-family advocates are urged to become CPC members in order to take part in the leadership election, scheduled for May 27, 2017.